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Friday, October 7, 2011

Gallipoli Food for Thought

Journal October 5th.....

It is deadly still here. The silence is broken only by bird songs and the waves that lap against these once bloody shores. There are better than a hundred of us on this beach head and all of us are silent. Bob and I have crossed the Dardanelles and are in Gallipoli at a place called Seddulbahir which is the final resting place of ANZAC forces who tried to land here in 1916. Those of us who love words and understand their power suddenly have none. As you walk the rows of well kept graves the headstones tell the tale. James McElroy age 18. Thomas Shoemaker age 19. Johnny McBride age 17. The oldest in this cemetery is 37. The old lie was repeated....Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori...and young men once again died in a war not of their making. Before this eight month battle ended 552,000 young men would lose their lives and leave wives and mothers to grieve their loss. Half were Aussies and New Zealanders. The other half were Turkish. Mustafa Ataturk, who would become the leader of the new Turkish nation, left this memorial for all who died at Gallipoli.

"Those heroes that shed their bloodAnd lost their lives.You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.Therefore rest in peace.There is no difference between the JohnniesAnd the Mehmets to us where they lie side by sideHere in this country of ours.You, the mothers,Who sent their sons from far away countriesWipe away your tears,Your sons are now lying in our bosomAnd are in peaceAfter having lost their lives on this land they haveBecome our sons as well."

Gallipoli, Mons, Ypres, Beaumont-Hamel, Vimy RidgeSo many young men from Canada, Australia and New Zealand who traveled far and died in a war for the old world - mostly commanded by old British military who had contempt for the 'colonials'. Heart breaking.

Yes many New Zealander died in gallipoli and every year veterans and their families travel there for commoration.We have a special cookie that we call Anzac cookie..and its made in honour of these soldiers.It seems their wives and mother made a btaches for them to take with them in the fight..as they can keep wel long.

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